


Darkened Light

by AGirlWhoLikesWriting



Category: Original Work
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:55:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23806498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AGirlWhoLikesWriting/pseuds/AGirlWhoLikesWriting
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Darkened Light

Darkened Light

Olivia had always believed that, when you died, you either went to heaven, or to hell. If you were good, you would go to heaven, but if you were bad, you’d end up in hell. She had known her entire life that she wanted to go to heaven, but as she gained self-awareness, she thought about her fate, what would happen in the afterlife, less and less.

“Don’t go towards the light”, was a phrase that Olivia had heard numerous times over the years, in life and death situations. Usually on television, or in a movie. She never thought that she would hear someone say it to her.

There was a light flickering. Was that what people had talked about? Why wasn’t it steady? It took a moment for her to realise that it was her eyelids fluttering open and shut, and not the light of the afterlife. It was as if a light bulb was dying, the last bit of electricity flaming out, like a candle deprived of oxygen. She felt numb, as though she had received the most dreadful news imaginable. In a way, she had. She thought that she was lying in a puddle, but that made no sense. It hadn’t rained in days. Someone screamed. She could hear sirens in the distance.

Olivia Williams could not be described as a morning person. In fact, she probably hated mornings more than anyone else she knew. So, when her alarm clock tore her from her sleep, she found herself angrily glaring at it. The noise which it created was horrendous, and it seemed to be rotating between six different pitches and volumes. The only way that Olivia could describe it even remotely accurately would be by saying that it sounded like a disco for the antichrist. It was infuriating. It made her grind her teeth, and eventually she reached out of her cocoon, into the cold air, and turned it off.

Within five minutes of the alarm ordeal, she forced herself to get out of bed. She was out the door in what seemed like no time at all. It was the last day of school before the summer holidays, and then they’d have time to do whatever they wanted – for six weeks! In fact, she had plans for after school that day, going out with friends.

Before she knew it, the school day was over. As the bell signalling the end of period seven rang, everyone rushed out of their classes. Olivia met her friends just outside of the school grounds.

Even though it was summer, the air had not thrown off a spring-like chill. The winds blew cold, as if playing a serenade in a hope for a return to winter. The frigid air had a way of keeping her trapped in a moment, stealing body heat faster than it could possibly be replaced. The day had quickly become one of those when normal clothes simply weren’t enough, when they would feel thinner than they are. Their breaths rose in puffs, and Olivia found herself wrapping her arms around her body tightly. She didn’t have sufficient vocabulary to describe the temperature and weather, but it was like a blanket. The cold licked at her face, and crept underneath her clothing, spreading everywhere, with the same ability that sand had to get everywhere.

As her friends had started talking, she tuned back into the conversation. “So, we’ll go to Jenna’s and change, then go out? Maybe to the beach, maybe just get food?”

“Megan-” Olivia pushed her hair away from her face “-, you do know that it’s absolutely freezing, right?” The group laughed, a mixture of them at Olivia, the others at Megan.

“Livvy has a point, Meg.” A girl shrugged her shoulders, looking between the two. “Why should we allow something as simple as a little cold weather to stop us from having fun? So, what, its cold? Let’s go anyway.”

The group finally decided on a plan, and went to Jenna’s, simply as she lived closest to the school. Depositing their belongings, they headed out again.

The group just had one final road to cross when the worst possible circumstance occurred. Olivia stopped before crossing the road, bending down to re-tie her shoelaces. She finished, and went to cross the road, darting out in hopes of quickly catching up to her friends.

“Olivia, no!” Jenna cried out, seeing the car quickly approaching her friend.

Olivia turned her head, seeing a car’s headlights coming towards her. The glare from the lights stung her eyes.

Adrenaline flooded her system, pumping and beating as though it was trying to escape. It felt like her heart was going to explode. Her eyes had gone wide with fear, and every instinct in her body was screaming at her to run, she wanted to run, but she stayed where she was, as though glued to the spot. All she had was a split-second, and there wasn’t all that much that she could do, but maybe that would have been enough.

Suddenly, her back was on the road. Light flickered, as if there had been a power outage. Was this what people had talked about? It took a moment for Olivia to realise that it was not a light flickering, but her eyelids fluttering open and closed. She felt numb, as if she’d just received terrible news. It was her fault. She thought for a second that she was lying in a puddle, but that didn’t make sense. It hadn’t rained in days. Anyway, rainwater was usually cold… This puddle was warm, really warm. Isabelle screamed. The sound of sirens in the distance faded in and out, but they were simply too far away from her to help. Everything began to fade into darkness, and she hoped that she’d wake up again.

“Her condition is improving, we honestly do not know why she hasn’t woken up yet,” a voice said. She could hear someone loudly gasp for air, followed by sobbing. It was more than simply crying, whoever it was sobbing was audibly in despair. They sounded disconsolate.

There was a rather loud beeping noise, and Olivia found herself surrounded by light. It flooded her retinas, until all she saw was white. It was as though she was standing in a room, and someone had just switched the light on – only, the light happened to be the brightest lightbulb ever. Usually, with light came vision, but in this case, it had taken her vision. It was overpowering, and it felt like it was begging her to come with it. She had never felt as enthralled as she did in that very moment. It was as though she was in the ocean, drifting away with the waves. She tried to stay, but soon even the sound of the lady sobbing was so far into the distance that it disappeared.

A sudden realisation hit Olivia. This was it; this was the light that she’d heard about, the one that she’d see when she was old and dying.

Dying. She was dying. It wasn’t supposed to be happening so soon.

The light got brighter, and she allowed herself to go with it, even though it was hurting her eyes.

Beep. Beep. Beeeep.

The heart rate monitor beeped rapidly, and then there was one long beep, and the screen went blank. The lady, Olivia’s mother, fell to her knees in anguish, her sobs echoing throughout the hospital room. Her wails were loud enough to be heard from miles away, the pain which was flowing through her was palpable. Her husband was by her side, struggling to keep his own tears silent. His shoulders shook, and each tear seemed to bring a whole new wave of agony, intensifying the grief which he was feeling. A frantic voice called out for assistance, but all the noise was muffled to Olivia’s parents. Nothing else mattered. Their daughter was dead.


End file.
